Tracy Lawson has wanted to be a writer ever since she learned to read. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Communication from Ohio University, and though she embarked on a career in the performing arts as a dance instructor and choreographer, never lost her desire to write, and thus far has to her credit the first volume in a coming-of-age dystopian thriller series and an historical nonfiction. Her interest in writing for teens is sparked by all the wonderful young people in her life, including her daughter, Keri, a college sophomore.

Counteract

YA Fiction, Romance, Suspense

Counteract: Book 1 of the Resistance Series (2014) is the story of a guy, a girl, the terrorist attack that brings them together, and their race to expose a conspiracy that could destroy their country from within. What Tommy and Careen learn about the true nature of the terrorist threat spurs them to take action, and their decisions lead them to run afoul of local law enforcement, team up with an underground resistance group, and ultimately take their quest for the truth to the highest reaches of the United States government. The second book in the series is slated for release in 2015.

Ignite

YA Fiction, Romance, Suspense

The Greatest Risk is to Take No Risk At All.

Nationwide food shortages have sparked civil unrest, and the Office of Civilian Safety and Defense’s hold on the people is slipping. The Resistance’s efforts to hasten the OCSD’s demise have resulted in disaster, with Tommy Bailey and Careen Catecher taking the blame for the ill-fated mission in OP-439. Both teens struggle to survive the circumstances that force them into the national spotlight—and this time, they’re on opposite sides.

On the run and exiled from the Resistance members in BG-098, Tommy makes his way to a Resistance safe house in the capital. The OCSD is preparing to monitor all under-eighteens with the Cerberean Link, a device that protects them against hunger and sickness and can even locate them if they’re lost.

Resist

YA Fiction, Romance, Suspense

Knowledge comes with a price.

Tommy and Careen are no longer naive teenagers who believe the Office of Civilian Safety and Defense’s miracle antidote can protect them from a terrorist’s chemical weapons. After accidentally discovering the antidote’s real purpose, they join the Resistance to fight back against the OCSD’s bid for total control of the population.

They soon realize that being part of the Resistance brings with it a whole new set of challenges. Not everyone working for change proves trustworthy, and plans to spark a revolution go awry, with grave consequences. Tommy and Careen's differing viewpoints threaten to drive a wedge between them, and their budding relationship is tested as their destinies move toward an inevitable confrontation with the forces that terrorize the nation.

Where does love fit in when you’re trying to overthrow the government?

Fips, Bots, Doggeries and More

Fiction, Suspense, Journey, Women

Fips, Bots, Doggeries, and More: Explorations of Henry Rogers' 1838 Journal of Travel from Southwestern Ohio to New York City (2012) is based on a journal written by Lawson’s great-great-great grandfather, who kept an account of his family’s 55-day journey on a horse-drawn wagon. His observations about the social and political environment of the times, emerging technology, and his family’s health and comfort while on the road were all commented upon in the journal. After making most of the same trip herself by automobile--along with her young daughter--during the summers of 2003 and 2004, and keeping her own journal, Tracy was inspired to compare and share information about both trips--taken over a century and a half apart. Fips, Bots, Doggeries, and More won the Ohio Professional Writers Association’s Best Non-fiction History award in 2012, and was featured in the Ohioana Book Festival in 2013.